About this project
Arist: Brews Coffee Like The Best Baristas Anytime Anywhere
$845,139
2,519
The Story
Every type of coffee bean requires a specific way to extract the best flavors, depending on grind size, water temperature, pressure, water flow, ground weight, and more. However, today’s machines brew every coffee bean in the same way; and that’s JUST NOT RIGHT. So we created ARIST to give you the best flavors.
Traditionally, it’s the job of a barista to accurately brew any given bean into a perfect cup of coffee, but inconsistency is always a huge problem due to human error. Arist is made to brew coffee in a specific, precise, and consistent way.
All of these processes sound complicated, but Arist has simplified everything into a simple machine with an easy-to-use smartphone app, so you can download recipes and brew coffee like the best baristas at just the tap of a button.
Campaign Funded Over 580%!
Thank you
Hi Everybody!
We have already surpassed triple our original target, all due to everyone’s continuous support! THANKS! In this update, we will address some feedback we received in our comments, private messages, and email. Also we will announce our coming stretch goals!
Media
The Vision
When we created Arist, our vision was to craft a machine that was stylish, fun, interactive and amazingly simple to use. Most of all, we wanted to bring that perfect cup of coffee from across the world right into your home.
Arist is the first coffee maker that provides complete control over every single step in the brewing process, from adjusting the grind size to fine-tuning the pressure. This intricate precision allows Arist to recreate the fine craftsmanship you so enjoy from your favorite barista.
And thanks to its smart phone app, Arist knows you as well as your barista does! Like any good barista, it recalls your preferences and your particular drinking habits and can make tailored recommendations. Arist understands your desires. In fact, it can predict what coffee you want, and when!
At just the simple tap of a button on your smartphone, Arist can prepare a perfect cup, selecting from over 100,000 recipes.
Stretch Goals
We support
Just like your friendly neighborhood barista, Arist remembers your tastes, and makes sure you get the best cup of coffee.
With Arist, you get to brew your tailor-made coffee from the app.
Or brew a previously assigned default recipe with a push of a button on the machine.
Or simply just places your personal cup to start brewing, Arist's NFC technology will recognize it and brew your special drink.
Fine-tuning your drinks has never been so easy. You can adjust the finer points of your daily cup with a simple swipe of your finger. A little more? A little less? You can tweak at will.
Missing the beans in the recipe? You can purchase it in app from Arist Cafe.
Upon our discovery that every bean deserves a specific way to extract the best out of it, it no longer made sense to us to use a generic machine that brews every kind of bean with the same methods.
The following are two sample recipes from our database demonstrating how to best extract each bean.
Given that every type of bean requires a specific configuration of each brew step, Arist is designed to adjust each step in the brewing process to brew coffee based on your preferences and bring out the best of each bean.
We compared ourselves with the best on the market.
Why adjustable brew steps are so important?
- Freedom of Bean Selection: Bean choice determines 45% of how your coffee will taste, so it's important you have a choice
- Adjustable Grind Size: Every bean requires a different grind size to best extract its unique flavors. Arist can automatically adjust grind size precisely for your coffee bean.
- Adjustable Coffee Ground Weight: Everyone has a different tolerance or desire of how strong they like their coffee. Arist allows the control of coffee strength easily.
- Adjustable Tamping Force: Different grind size requires different tamping force to make sure the grounds are packed in the optimal density, avoiding over extraction of bitterness due to uneven water flow.
- Adjustable Water Temperature: Different beans require different temperatures to extract the "creamer", which affects the "body" of the coffee.
- Adjustable Water Pressure: So Arist can extract the ideal portion of each shot.
- Adjustable Milk Temperature: Determines the sweetness of the coffee by adding milk with the correct temperature for different beans.
- Adjustable Milk Foam: To match a perfect creamy texture to each recipe for any given bean.
Additional Technical Info
- Updated Dimension: 484 mm (h) x 165 mm (w) x 242 mm (d) / 19.05" (h) x 6.50" (w) x 9.53" (d)
- Reservoir volume : Milk 33.81 oz, Water 33.81 oz total /Milk 1 Liter (L), Water 1 Liter (L) total
- Supported cup height: 203 mm / 8" (with drip tray removed)
- Coffee compartment: each compartment can hold up to 200 g coffee beans
- Drip tray: Removable, can hold waste water up to 33.81 oz or 1 liter (L)
- Water filter: Replaceable built-in water filter, depends on where in the world, different kind of water filter will be used
Ambassador
Q Grader
The Q Grader Program was designed by the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) to create a skilled and credible body of specialty Arabica coffee cuppers to consistently and accurately assess coffee quality, both cup and grade, as a part of its Q Coffee System. Today, that program is the only internationally recognized certificate system for Arabica coffee cuppers.
Arist’s tall, slender form is guided by its functional parts.
Carefully honed mechanisms combined with smart technologies in a coffee maker
that is sleek, stylish and minimal. Each curve is carefully designed to make
Arist a compact, practical addition to any home.
Arist is available in 2 colors for basic edition, and a special wood edition
Near Field Communication (NFC)
The six NFC stickers are already programmed with five standard coffee recipes. With a scan of the sticker, Arist can brew five different coffee drinks without the use of a smartphone. Each sticker can be be reassigned a new or modified recipe of your choice.
The Cleaning "recipe"
The sixth sticker is programmed with a "cleaning recipe". We decided to implement a machine cleaning recipe via NFC, for initiating the cleaning process without a smartphone. As the machine is executing its Auto Cleaning process, waste water is dispensed and is normally collected in the drip tray anyways, so we thought it would be even more convenient if a specific cup could both initiate the process and collect the waste water.
The syrup cartridges will undergo a new design once that stretch goal is met. The new design will allow the use of open source syrups as well as our prepackaged syrups via interchangeable cartridges. Once the stretch goal is met, all machines will ship with four fully-loaded syrup cartridges (1 refillable, 3 disposable).
The open source syrup cartridge is larger and only allows the machine to dispense a single syrup flavor at a time. It is refillable and dish washer safe.
Our prepackaged syrups are smaller and allows for the machine to have the option to dispense three different flavors. These are disposable cartridges.
Ingredients are loaded into the top of the machine and the levels can be monitored on your phone.
Do you crave the rich flavors of your favorite coffee shop? Would you like to enjoy a professionally made frothy cappuccino from the comfort of
your home? Do you want to have your coffee, your way? Or have you ever wondered
what coffee really tastes like in Rome?
Arist is for coffee drinkers, coffee lovers, coffee professionals, and even those yet to be initiated. Arist delivers a completely new experience, opening the door to a new level of caffeinated pleasure.
We see Kickstarter as the beginning of a dialogue with the entire coffee community. Arist aims to fully empower coffee lovers so that they have complete control over their brew. If you are a barista, we want to spread your craft to new audiences. If you just love coffee, we want to develop a comprehensive understanding of your preferences so we can deliver the world's best coffee.
We're also having a lot of fun working on Arist and want to share everything we're learning with you.
Our Management Team
- Benson Chiu – CEO/Project Manager – Software Engineer, Hardware Hobbyist, Coffee Romantic
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Nelson Chiu – CFO/Business Development – Entrepreneur, Ultra-supportive Big Bro
Technical Management Team
- Marcus Lui – Product Management Lead – Electronic Engineering
- Louis Kong – Product Development Lead – Mechanical Engineering
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Houston Law – Software Engineering Lead – Computer Engineering
Coffee Quality and Recipe Management
- Chris Yeung So Fan – Coffee Quality Control Lead – Licensed Q Grader, Barista Championship Judge
- Vincent Poon – Coffee Community Superman – Biotech Engineer, Barista, Coffee Enthusiast
Marketing
- Vicki Tsim – Marketing Director – Event Planner, Coffee Addicts Anonymous
Pricing
The price of an Arist is set very low at $299, as it is a Kickstarter special and we are only looking to raise funds for manufacturing and further testing. After the campaign, the price of an Arist will be at least $699.
Thank you for your Support!
Please stay tune with us on social media as well!
- Arist Team
Risks and challenges
We are making a coffee machine that is compact and powerful – our goal is to make sure everything in this small space works perfectly in every environment
Challenges include making a machine that will last for as long as possible and that is easy to repair.
Other challenges include making sure that it is as precise as possible and fully captures the art of being a barista.
Learn about accountability on KickstarterFAQ
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Regarding the concerns about voltage, the Arist is a bi-voltage machine, allows 100-120V or 220-240V, with an interchangeable multi-plug outlet. We will ship you the right voltage version of your country.
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Yes, right below the button on the front of Arist, there is a small multi-color LED light. When you control Arist without the app, e.g. with NFC sticker, the LED light is there to indicate various alerts and feedbacks.
There are many signals the LED light has to tell you apart from the ones you have kindly listed, like NFC recipe assignment success, waste tank being full, etc.. Therefore, we are designing a protocol for the LED light that is simple to understand, yet is capable of giving various complicated feedback. -
We offer 1 year warranty, as we have designed our components to be modularize hence changeable, we ship replaceable parts for free during warranty period no matter where you are.
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We offer international free shipping. (Excluding import duties.)
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Yes, you can use any beans purchased at any store as long as they are roasted beans.
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There are 2 features regarding our milk container:
1)The milk container is detachable you can take the whole container out and put it in the fridge.
2) As long as the container is attached on Arist, it will be powered with a mini cooler maintaining milk below 4 degree Celsius, so you can be lazy and keep the milk there for up to 2-3 days without worrying it will turn bad. -
Our current design is 440 mm height, 150 mm width, and 220 mm depth. But this could subject to increase by about no more than 10%.
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Syrups are optionals, we provide capsule syrups so you get to use different taste of syrup everytime. You are free to use any syrups you like as because Arist comes with empty cartridge so you can add your own syrup into the machine.
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Max 6 inches, the drip tray can be detached for you to insert a 8 inches cup.
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The autocleaning is performed when the machines turns on and off. Water of 90°C is passed and recycled through the machine to remove all essential oils stains. The high temperature is necessary to achieve the highest level of cleanliness. Also, the components of the machine have a protective seal on the surface created from special active ingredients, providing long-lasting protection from coffee residue and essential oils.
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Arist equips with water filter itself, and can be replace when needed. With a household consumption of coffee, the filter can be use for up to a year before replacing, replaceable filter can be purchase from us. Also, Any Arist machine will come with a spare filter right from the beginning.
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Water- 1 Liter
Milk - 1 Liter
Coffee bean - 200 grams x 2 -
Water we can get up to 95 degree Celsius, and for Milk we can get up to 80 degree Celsius.
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We have a cleaning tablet that will run with our machine for descaling. It is expected to be use every 3-6 month depending on your usage.
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We are using a Porcelain conical burr grinder.
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19 bars is the max pressure bar
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When the machine is not in use, it enters standby mode and the brewing group will be turned off, meaning the heater is turned off so the water is not constantly heated. However the command receiver will remain on. Regarding the cooler, it will only turn on if the milk container is inside the cooler. So if you prefer, you can always put it in the fridge after each use. As for energy consumption, it has not been optimized in the prototype yet, but we will do our best to minimize it in the manufacturing model.
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Yes, every user can control Arist using the app, they will have their custom setting and a set of recipes on their phone. Multiple users can connect to Arist when sharing the same WiFi network, but Arist can only take in one request of brewing at a time.
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Yes, Arist App will be free to download on App-store, Google play and Windows phone (Market Place).
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As of now we only offer online purchases, but we aim to establish retailers in the near future.
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Yes, additional NFC stickers are available to purchase on our website.
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Yes, 6 color coded NFC stickers will be shipped with each Arist for you to enjoy!
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Yes, Arist can operate without a server, you can make coffee without connecting it to the internet. The wi-fi is for your phone to communicate with Arist, also it is needed for you to download the app to enjoy the worldwide recipes.
Bluetooth is also available as a back up connection for people who don’t have wi-fi. -
The NFC cups and stickers will be shipped per Arist not per Backer.
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Funding period
- (30 days)